A political advocacy group is increasingly concerned about Jewish students’ safety as they return to campuses this fall and wants Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to swiftly pass a bill cracking down on antisemitism before demonstrations gets out of hand again, a source familiar with the effort told The Post.
The Florence Avenue Initiative is spending $2 million on an ad blitz calling on Schumer to take up the Bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act, Jewish Insider first reported, or risk “breaking the promise he made” to defend students as the highest ranking Jewish member of Congress.
“With the campus unrest that we saw in the spring and expect again in the fall, it’s beyond comprehension that Chuck Schumer wouldn’t take action,” the source close to the initiative said. “He wants to proclaim he’s the great defender of Jews in America but yet he turned his back on them in their time of need.”
“The Senate has not had one single hearing on antisemitism,” the source added, calling it “deplorable” that the Majority Leader failed to visit Jewish Columbia University students after their campus was overtaken by anti-Israel demonstrators who threatened and harassed them in the spring.
“This ad is run by an anonymous, shadowy group that is clearly doing it for political purposes,” fired back Schumer spokesman Angelo Roefaro. “The ad does nothing to stop antisemitism. The ad does nothing to pass any bill. Senator Schumer is doing both.”
The spokesman also pointed to Schumer championing the more than $14 billion in military aid to Israel that passed the Senate in April.
The legislation empowers the US Education Department to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism when investigating potential violations of civil rights law.
It was opposed by left-wing groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and right-wing members of Congress like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) over free speech concerns based on the IHRA definition.
At least seven examples of antisemitism included concern criticism of Israel, including “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis,” “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,” and “applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”
But its authors like Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) maintain it “allows criticism of Israel” but “doesn’t allow calls for the destruction or elimination of the Jewish state.”
The antisemitism bill passed the House on a bipartisan basis with 320 votes in May — but has since languished in the Senate.
The ad, which is being aired digitally and will go onto broadcast television after Labor Day, blames Schumer for the hold up.
“Majority Leader Chuck Schumer claims he stands tall against antisemitism, against hate,” a narrator says in the 60 second TV spot. “In reality, Schumer alone blocks it from coming to a Senate vote.”
Another Capitol Hill source spilled to The Post that the Majority Leader is intent on bringing his No Kings Act and other messaging bills against Republicans to the floor in September — but not the antisemitism legislation.
The measure was introduced by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who pointed out the difficulty it faced in the House was because of Democratic infighting over US support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
“Some of my colleagues on the left are allowing electoral politics to get in the way of doing what is right,” he said during the House debate of the bill in May.
A version of the legislation had already passed the Republican-controlled Senate in 2016 — but not the Democrat-run House — and was later adopted by President Trump via executive order.
It remains one of the few executive actions that President Biden did not reverse upon taking office.
Still, proponents are pushing to codify it and predicting that as many as 30 Senate Democrats already support it, according to the source, nor has the White House issued any veto threat about the bill.
“Schumer is all talk,” the source added. “He’s just scared of the left, he’s scared of [Rep. Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez,” referring to the Bronx “Squad” pol who has been floated as a threat against him in future Democratic primary races.
The Florence Avenue Initiative ad campaign is running in New York and 2024 battleground states.
